Push for a tough sentence

Shen student's mother starts letter campaign seeking maximum term

By Bryan Fitzgerald

Published 11:26 pm, Monday, November 18, 2013

Photo: SKIP DICKSTEIN

Image 1of/2

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 2

Dennis Drue, age 22, is led from a State Police car Monday, Jan. 7, 2013, to the Saratoga County Courthouse in Ballston Spa, N.Y. Drue allegedly drove the car which rear-ended an SUV killing two popular Shenendehowa High School students on the Northway last Dec. (Skip Dickstein/Times Union) less

Dennis Drue, age 22, is led from a State Police car Monday, Jan. 7, 2013, to the Saratoga County Courthouse in Ballston Spa, N.Y. Drue allegedly drove the car which rear-ended an SUV killing two popular ... more

Photo: SKIP DICKSTEIN

Image 2 of 2

Crash survivor Matt Hardy, center, is greeted by football teammates after arriving by medical van during a candlelight vigil and memorial service for the Shen crash victims at Shenendehowa High School in Clifton Park, NY Tuesday Dec. 4, 2012. Shen students Chris Stewart and Deanna Rivers died in the crash with Matt Hardy and Bailey Wind being seriously injured.(Michael P. Farrell/Times Union) less

Crash survivor Matt Hardy, center, is greeted by football teammates after arriving by medical van during a candlelight vigil and memorial service for the Shen crash victims at Shenendehowa High School in ... more

Outside the school's main entrance is the peace-sign-shaped memorial for his girlfriend, Deanna Rivers, and his football teammate Chris Stewart. During the season this year, Hardy would look to the stands and see Rivers' seat, empty. When Hardy's on the basketball court, banners bearing his classmates' jersey numbers — football for Stewart, softball for Rivers — hang overhead.

No matter how much prison time is handed down to Dennis Drue, the Halfmoon man who pleaded guilty in September to 58 criminal charges for causing last year's Northway crash that killed Rivers and Stewart, the reminders remain.

Hardy's mother, Patricia, acknowledges this but doesn't want anyone else to live through what her son and the other families affected by the fatal crash face every day. That is why Hardy says she is pushing for Drue to get the maximum 15-year term when he is sentenced Dec. 5. Hardy has penned a letter urging others to write to Judge Jerry Scarano asking him to give Drue as much time as the deal allows.

More Information

Letter text

Here are excerpts from Patricia Hardy's letter calling on people to write to Judge Jerry Scarano at DA@Saratogacountyny.gov. to urge him to sentence Dennis Drue to the maximum term of 15 years in prison on Dec. 5:

"No amount of time in prison for Mr. Drue will bring back Deanna or Chris, nor relieve the pain and suffering their families, Bailey and Matthew have endured. A maximum sentence, however, could save lives in the future by sending a message to other young people that drugs, alcohol, text messaging and speeding are a lethal combination. ...

"I ask you, as a parent, to visualize your child or grandchild in such a situation and request the judge to let other drivers know the sentence will be stiff should they cause such an accident. That is the only way to prevent such a needless loss of life in the future."

"It's hard when you see someone guilty of a robbery or drug charges get five or 10 years," she said. "And here you have someone who's pleaded guilty to 58 criminal counts that led to two people's deaths."

As of Monday night, Patricia Hardy said she knew of at least 500 to 600 people who were going to write letters to Scarano asking for the maximum sentence.

"I'm not gunning for Dennis Drue personally," Hardy said. "We need a change in sentencing laws, changes in the judicial system. I'd hate to say this, but Dennis Drue may have to be an example."

Drue, 23, pleaded guilty to the entire indictment that accused him of causing the Dec. 1, 2012, fatal crash. Prosecutors said Drue had been drinking that night and was speeding and texting as he drove just north of the Twin Bridges. The crash also severely injured Matt Hardy and Shaker High School student Bailey Wind, Stewart's girlfriend. Drue's sentencing range agreed upon by Judge Scarano is 5 to 15 years in prison.

Patricia Hardy's letter has circulated through a few groups of friends. She submitted it to the Times Union as a letter to the editor.

The Saratoga County District Attorney's Office prepared the Hardys and the other families for the prospect of a plea deal that would carry a disappointing sentence. That didn't make it easier when Drue pleaded guilty.

"It felt like getting hit by a Mack truck," said Dawn Wind, Bailey's mother, of what it was like to learn of Drue's sentencing arrangement. Dawn Wind urged others to push for the maximum sentence.

"There is not enough time that he could possibly get that could bring Chris or Deanna back or take away the pain he's caused. But the higher the sentence, the better I would feel," Dawn Wind said.

She said her daughter has already written a victim impact statement that she'll read at Drue's sentencing. Patricia Hardy said either she or her son will speak then, too, with Drue present.

"It will be the first chance any of us get to face him," Patricia Hardy said.